Warfare
by DivineJudgment
Summary: In their eyes, a new tournament is exactly the kind of entertainment they had been begging for. However, none of them would have predicted what it would do to them. Friendships torn, hearts broken- is the momentary thrill worth the price?


**Author's Note:** Ever since SSB4 was announced, I've renewed my interest in making movesets, rosters, etc. I noticed that a lot of people post stories about the next tournament and I wanted to write a simple, fun story like that. However, I wanted to make sure there was actually story incorporated into it, as many stories had no plot, and were just plain battling. I'm striving to make a story that is about an upcoming tournament with newcomers, but there's plenty of story and drama and whatnot to drive the plot. Anyways, onto the story!

-…-

**[ Warfare ] - Chapter 1**

-…-

"I am extremely displeased with you, Master Hand."

"Please, Master, forgive me." Master Hand begged with false regret. Although he was not truly sorry for his actions, a tinge of fear still lingered in his heart. As much as he attempted to deny it, he feared his master. Who wouldn't fear their own creator?

"Tell me, why should I consider forgiving you, exactly?" His master nearly snickered with disgust at his servant. "Because," Master Hand continued, edging his words with a slyness that matched his master's, "I can make it up to you." He watches as his master's eyes widened for a moment before he arched an eyebrow, a smirk spreading across his face. "And just how do you plan to do that, hm?"

-…-

"Crazy said you were asking for me, Master Hand?"

Without turning to even face the voice's owner, Master Hand knew without a doubt that the voice belonged to Red. "Yes, thank you for coming, Red." Red reluctantly stepped into the office, seating himself in a nearby chair. A frown had etched itself across his face, lips puckering sourly. Moments passed, neither speaking to one another. "…Is everything alright, Master Hand? Normally, you'd just speak to me in my room or in the hallway if you needed me. I doubt whatever news you have will be all that great." Master turned to face him, seating himself in the grand chair behind his office desk. "Yes, I'm afraid not everything's perfect around here lately."

Red's lips curved upwards in a crooked smile for a moment. "Don't tell me that you're kicking me out of the mansion. I did place fifth in last year's tournament, after all!" Master Hand let out a breath that was midway between a chuckle and a sigh. "No, no, nothing like that. In fact, quite the opposite." He watched as light filled the trainer's eyes. New things always thrilled the boy- thus another reason why he was chosen to be the first to hear the news. "The next tournament is about to be underway."

The brunette shot forward in his chair, clutching the arms to keep himself from being launched over his boss' desk. "You can't be serious! It's barely been a year since the last tournament. I doubt everyone's trained enough to be ready for another tournament." The glove snorted angrily, sending Red back to an upright and formal position. He had forgotten to whom he was speaking to for a moment. "Calm down, Red. I was not the one to make this decision on my own. I was told that the next tournament must be started right away."

The trainer raised an eyebrow in mild curiosity, but allowed the hand to continue. "Without going into further details on that subject," Red's eyes narrowed in disappointment, "in order for a new tournament to take place, we obviously need new fighters to participate." Red shrugged- he knew this, why was it so important to repeat obvious information? "However," now the youth's attention was regained, "last year's selection process was _painfully_ slow. As such, this year, we are going to try a new way to find promising fighters."

Master Hand snapped his fingers and a piece of parchment floated in place in front of Red. The boy grasped it after receiving an approving glance from his boss, and read over it. The paper contained a long list of names, most of which remained unfamiliar or sounded only vaguely familiar. "Each and every week," the glove continued as the boy finished reading the list, "we will be inviting a handful of newcomers to the mansion and pitting them against our veterans to see if they can handle themselves in the next tournament. We will select the best from each group of candidates and continue until we have an elite group of fighters capable of standing up to the rest of you."

"I'm confused, what's the prob-" Master Hand silenced him with a large finger that indicated for him to hush. "I wasn't finished, Red. There's a risk to all this." The trainer's ears were once again opened and interested. "In order to find the cream of the crop, so to speak, the veterans also have a chance of being eliminated from the contest. What do you think, hm? Exciting, no?"

The idea was certainly intriguing, Red had to admit. However, the idea of being pitted against famous fighters whose fighting abilities were completely unknown to them scared him. But most of all, he feared that he would lose his spot in the tournament. Was he really as he good as he thought he was? Could he perform as well as he did last year? What if these newcomers were just as good, if not better, then he could ever be?

"Calm yourself." Master Hand's voice snapped the youth out of his inner monologue. "You should do just fine. Losing a match does not equate to losing your spot in the tournament. In fact, you have a better chance of staying because I've had the chance to see you fight before. Breathe easy, Red. I wouldn't be telling you this if I didn't have confidence in you."

That put Red's heart at ease, if only because he had never heard his boss speak so kindly to him, or anyone for that matter. He smiled sincerely, tilting his head to one side in bewilderment. "Thank you, Master Hand. If you don't mind, I think I'd like to head on back to my room. My roommates are probably wondering where I've been." Master Hand dismissed him, letting him spread rumors about a new and exciting tournament that would get this entire mansion buzzing with excitement and fear. He knew he would- that's why he told him, after all.

-…-

"Another tournament, huh?"

Marth remarked gruffly, clearly not as interested as his roommates were. He brushed back his bangs and leaned back against his bed, looking as if he would soon drift off into a sweet sleep. However, his roommates were quite intent on staying up through the night if it meant they would get all the details on the new tournament.

Roy looked about ready to leap on top of Red to get more details. His eyes burned with the excitement that another tournament would soon be underway. Roy had opted out of the tournaments, choosing to train other members and serve as a leader to all of the newcomers. However, he was always eager to watch the fights and join in on the occasional spar with his friends. "So, who are some of the newcomers gonna be, huh? Does it look like I'm gonna have some good recruits this time around or what?"

Red sighed, rubbing his temples (Marth following his lead). "Calm down, calm down, Roy." Roy pouted playfully, crossing his arms and sticking out his lips, but leaned backwards. "Master Hand didn't go _that _in depth about who the newcomers will be and whatnot. All I know is that we get a few newcomers each week and we have to fight against them to 'prove our worth' or whatever."

Sonic shrugged, standing across the bedroom and tossing off his gloves and rings in preparation for his soon-to-be slumber. "Either way, it sure sounds interesting." The hedgehog turned to meet Red's uneasy gaze. "What, are you worried? Relax, well be fine! You and I came in 5th and 6th place in the last tournament, and ol' Marthy over there won the whole thing! Far as I can see, we got nothing to worry about." Red shrugged and leaned back on his bed, following Marth's example and crawling under the covers for a good night sleep. "Now if we were Game and Watch or R.O.B., then we'd have to worry! Coming in last is pretty rough, especially if you're not that well-known to begin with."

Roy, still not satisfied with the amount of knowledge he possessed, tugged on Red's arm, yanking him out of his dreamland. The slumbering brunette groaned and cracked an eye open, shooting a glare at his restless roommate. "One last question, then I'll let you sleep- when do we meet the newcomers?" Red closed his eyes again, yanked his arm free of Roy's grasp and turned over, mumbling, "You'll find out when you find out."

Roy's cry of "BUT-" was cut short by the lights in the room suddenly being shut off and Marth's sarcastic, edgy voice whispering, "Good night, Roy."

-…-

"It is time."

All of the current Smashers sat around the main living room of the Smash Mansion, gossiping frantically about the upcoming tournament, the newcomers and anything and everything else they could think of. Gossip spread like wildfire in the halls of the mansion, for it interested even the villains such as Bowser and Ganondorf. Who wouldn't be interested that some fighters might not make it to the next tournament?

Master Hand floated into the center of the room, accompanied by his manic twin, Crazy. "Everyone, may I have your attention?" The combatants continued buzzing with gossip. "Everyone, I need to inform you all of some very important information!" No one paid any mind to their boss, barely even noticing someone else was talking besides themselves. "I said-" "QUIEEEEET!" The room went dead silent as Crazy had one of his infamous outbursts. Everyone stared wide-eyed in wonderment, as Crazy snickered in embarrassment and excused himself.

"…Yes, well, with that out of the way," Master Hand cleared his throat and continued in a formal tone befitting of a business leader or president. "Everyone, as I'm sure you all have heard, a new tournament is about to take place." The crowd simultaneously rolled their eyes. Master Hand had a habit of stating the obvious. "Furthermore, as of today, newcomers will be sporadically coming to our esteemed Smash Mansion in order to test their skills- and yours- and see who is fit to enroll in the next Super Smash Bros. tournament! In order to keep the length of this talk to a minimum, I'd like to skip the formalities and go right ahead and introduce our first three newcomers!"

"To start off our beginning trio, I thought I'd bring in a face you all know…but probably don't love. Anyways, here he is- the dastardly, the conniving, the scheming-" However, Master Hand's overdramatic introduction was cut off by a tennis ball being launched across the room at lightning speed. The ball ricocheted off of the walls before planting itself in Luigi's right eye, followed by maniacal laughter echoing throughout the room.

Out of a door located behind Master Hand stepped Waluigi, tennis racquet in hand and juggling another tennis ball. His beady black eyes stayed glued on Luigi's bruised eye socket, chuckling darkly. "Sorry, Luigi. You should know by now that I play dirty, though. Looks like you're still a little crybaby, huh?" The villains erupted into a fit of laughter. Dedede leaned over to Bowser, whispering, "I like this guy already!" Bowser snickered. "Just wait! He'll have little Luigi crying for his mama soon enough." Wario waddled on up to his partner in crime, giving him a high-five and commending his nice shot.

Meanwhile, Luigi was frantically rubbing his aching eye, trying desperately to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. Mario rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder, glaring at his rival in an attempt to keep them from harming his brother anymore. Peach was comforting him with sweet words and attempting to heal his eye with what minor healing magic Zelda had taught her. Yoshi merely hissed at his old enemy and lashed out at the villain with his tongue, smacking him across the face.

Just as Waluigi was about to strike back, Master Hand stepped in front of him, stopping the oncoming fight. "That's enough, Waluigi. Save your energy for the upcoming fight." The two stared at one another, glare meeting glare, before Waluigi broke away and snorted scornfully. "Looks like you got real lucky, you little lizard!" Peach rolled her eyes and shot her own evil eye at Waluigi, telling him to back off or even she'd get involved. Waluigi knew better than to provoke her further.

"After that minor mishap," Master Hand continued, "we shall introduce our next contestant! I have to thank her, as she wasn't even supposed to come until much later, but our other contestant called out sick at the last minute! She's a princess, but I'm not sure I'd mess with her _or _her pegasus," at this, Marth's head shot up and he listened intently as to what was about to come next. "Please welcome, the lovely Princess Shiida!"

Marth nearly fell out of his seat when the princess entered the room. She stood strong, hands on hips, with a look of fierce determination that radiated forth from her face. Ike stared in wonder- she reminded him of his comrade, Mia, for some strange reason. Must be the hair. Shiida scanned the room before finally locating Marth and sprinting towards him. She leapt into his arms, wrapping herself around her friend. "Marth…it's been so long."

Marth released her from the tight embrace, a rare smile gracing his face. "Shiida, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home in Altea?" Shiida frowned. "Hi, Marth. Nice to see you too! Glad to see you're doing well." Marth winced at her tone, before Shiida broke into a smile. "Just kidding! Wow, you really fell for it, didn't you?" Marth's gleeful smile was replaced by a crooked grin. "Ha ha, let's all laugh and point at the gullible prince."

Shiida smacked him playfully in the arm, giggling softly. "Seems like you haven't lightened up one bit, huh? Well, if you must know, Elice is taking care of the kingdom at the moment. In fact, she was the one who encouraged me to accept the invitation. Don't worry, Marth, Altea will be just fine in our leave." Marth rolled his eyes, scoffing. "If you say so." This time, Shiida punched his arm instead, but they both laughed.

"Hey, girly," both Marth and Shiida glanced over with blank expressions to find that it was Bowser that had called her. "Do you mind finishing up all the flirting with your boyfriend so we can move on to the next newcomer? You're holding up the party with all your lovey-dovey nonsense!" The villains howled with laughter as they noticed the duo blushing furiously at the implications of a romantic relationship.

However, it was at that keen moment that Wolf decided to throw his two cents in, forever isolating himself from the rest of the hair-brained villains. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it you, Bowser, I caught fawning over some picture of Peach the other day?" It was the Koopa King's turn to blush as the entire room erupted into a fit of laughter. Even Master Hand couldn't help himself, as he stifled a small chuckle. Crazy was collapsed on the ground in a heap of uncontrollable giggles. Peach covered her face with her hands and shook her head as Mario rested a hand on her shoulder and glared possessively at the koopa.

"Well, now that we have that all out of the way, perhaps we should take our secret admirer's advice and move on, shall we? The next newcomer is another familiar face around here, and I wouldn't make any more snide remarks, lest you want your teeth punched out. Introducing, the world-class brawler, Little Mac!" Little Mac leapt out from behind Master Hand and pumped his fists in the air. The entire group began cheering- even the villains respected the little man. They had, after all, gotten their butts kicked by him one time or another.

Link and Mario ran to meet the newcomer, beaming from ear to ear. Little Mac had been Mario's number one pick for a new fighter in Brawl. However, Mac's sudden gain in weight had initially deterred him from becoming a newcomer. Luckily, someone helped him exercise and reclaim his world-class fighting abilities. As soon as he was inducted as an Assist Trophy, Link had been charged with leading him around the premises and had quickly bonded with him. Both were thrilled at the thought of him joining their ranks at long last.

"Mamma mia, Little Mac! You finally have a chance at becoming a full-fledged Smasher, eh?" Little Mac gave the plumber a high-five and did the same with Link. "You know it! Master Hand said he has really high expectations of me!" Nervously, the brawler scratched the back of his head and chuckled. "Guess that means I got a lot to live up to, huh?" Link motioned with his hand and scoffed. "Don't worry about it. Knowing you, you're more than a match for any of us around here." The three shared a laugh, remembering not so fond memories of when Little Mac was summoned into battle and the bruises that remained thereafter.

"As much as I know you all are enjoying spending some time with our new…'friends', we do have a tournament to start up so we need to move onto the actual battles." The atmosphere of the entire room shifted as Master Hand spoke these words, bracing themselves for the upcoming announcement. "There will be three battles to start out the tournament- a one on one battle and two four way brawls. Any questions?" Silence was his only answer. "Didn't think so. Crazy will you do the honors of announcing the first three battles?"

Crazy shot up like a rocket at this and spun around several times before stopping to announce the battle schedule. "The battle contestants are as follows- first up, we have Waluigi vs. Diddy Kong!" Waluigi snickered as he located his opponent with a little help from Wario. His snicker was rewarded with a hiss from the chimp. "The first four-way brawl is between Lucas, Wolf, King Dedede and Little Mac!" Little Mac glanced at Link for support, who rested a comforting hand on his shoulder along with a sincere grin. Wolf scoffed, bored with his competition. Dedede, deciding to have some fun with his competitors, snuck up behind Lucas and screamed "Boo!" causing the boy to scream and jump into Ness' unsuspecting arms. "And, finally, the second four-way battle is between Sonic, Toon Link, Jigglypuff and Shiida!" Sonic pumped his fist into the air, Roy mockingly cheering him on and Jigglypuff twirled around to please her onlookers. Shiida beamed confidently, until she located her competition and laid eyes on Toon Link's weaponry.

_This could be bad…_

-...-

**Author's Note: **The next chapter will feature the three fights and the arrival of the next batch of newcomers. Although I already have the story planned (for the most part), feel free to request newcomers you'd like to see, as long as they are not OC's and follow the rules that Sakurai uses to determine newcomers. I'd also be more than happy to share my movesets for any characters or just talk about SSB4 in general. Hope everyone enjoyed and let me know if it's too...cliche. It's my first non-angst piece in a while so I'm a little shaky.


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